Code Working Group gets adviser input

The first meeting of the Code Working Group and adviser stakeholder group is being held today, aiming to inform the development of the new code of conduct for advisers.

Wednesday, July 25th 2018, 6:00AM

by Susan Edmunds

There are two AFAs and six RFAs on the new stakeholder group, including Murray Weatherston, Regan Thomas, Charlene Overell and Jon-Paul Hale.

Weatherston said the group would have a series of meetings with the code working group to offer their opinions and feedback on its proposals.

It is believed the first meeting will only consider the conduct and client care standards. The CWG will set the agenda.

Hale said it was an opportunity to engage proactively to develop a code that would benefit the industry.

“My understanding of the process is they want to get feedback about the real world view of what this should look like,” he said.

It would be important for the code to take a pragmatic approach to find the easiest way to achieve the broad goal of producing better advice and better customer perceptions of the industry as well as better client outcomes.

That would need to be done without “turning the industry upside down” and creating an environment that favoured the big corporate sand those fresh out of university, he said.

It was important the code allowed for those with a long history in the industry, he said. “There’s been some in the 60-plus age group who have said if they made it too hard they’re just going to retire.”

They would often be the type of adviser who would not fit well under the umbrella of another financial advice provider, he said, because they had operated as an independent for so long.

Hale said he was also interested in getting the CWG perspective on how product providers put their products into the market, which advisers then interact with, and how their processes fitted in with the new regulations and legislation.

“There’s so many layers to this, we have to step through piece by piece. Whatever happens, it needs to fit everybody.”